Snakes on a Knightmare Frame
by Keith Fraser
Summary: Crossover. When Japan is conquered by the Domination, Draka defector Lelouch von Shrakenburg and his serfborn daughter Nunnally are caught in the middle.


_**Disclaimer:**__ Code Geass is the property of Sunrise, Bandai et al. The Draka series is the property of S.M. Stirling and/or Baen Books. No money is being made from this fanfic and it will be removed if the above parties so request. All your base are belong to us._

**Notes: **A historical timeline showing how the two sources are combined is given after the prologue. For any Code Geass fans sufficiently curious to have clicked on this fic without knowing what the Draka are, links to information on the series can be found on my author page. This crossover makes significant changes to several characters' ages (both numerically and relative to each other) and family relationships; most of these can be derived from the timeline, but a complete list of relevant character ages is given at the end as an aid to the reader. In the prologue, Lelouch is 21, Suzaku goes from 13 to 14 (his birthday being in July), and Nunnally is 6 going on 7 (her birthday being in October).

(To pre-empt any hair-tearing comments from frustrated followers of my older Code Geass fics, especially the oddly popular _Children of the Revolution_: yes, I am still working on those; a new part of the latter has just been released, and chapters 2-3 have been revised.)

**Snakes on a Knightmare Frame  
>A Code GeassDraka Crossover  
>Prologue<strong>

_Numerous errors were made__ in the handling of the Japanese secession crisis, including...the botched attempt to discredit Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi, which played directly into the hands of the enemy. These errors were compounded by a failure of the political and military leadership to plan for the worst-case scenario of Japan's withdrawal from the Alliance for Democracy. If proper plans had been drawn up for the __defence__ of a neutral Japan, the Domination would not have gained control of 70% of the world's Sakuradite..._

_-United St__ates Office of Strategic Studies Top Secret report, 19th November 1975_

_25th April 1975_

_Kururugi Shrine_

_Japan_

Suzaku Kururugi skulked through the bushes, trying to approach the guest cottage unseen. He was hoping to catch a glimpse of the Draka defector living there, Lelouch von Shrakenburg (what kind of a name was that?). Why on earth his father had chosen to let the Snake live here, on the sacred ground of the Kururugi Shrine, he had no idea, but at least it gave him the chance to see one of the strange foreign slavers for himself. Men who had fought against them at the end of the Eurasian War thirty years ago talked of them with barely restrained awe, as if they were demigods or fighting machines rather than humans. Official texts similarly painted their way of life as alien, like the old samurai taken to mad extremes - a ruling caste obsessively dedicated to remaining strong and in control of their more numerous subjects. What sort of people actually called their empire _the Domination_, for heaven's sake?

He crossed the open ground to the back of the house without incident. Feeling like he was in a spy movie, Suzaku edged along the rear wall, peered past the corner, and slipped round. Looking in the first window he reached and seeing only an empty room, he moved on past the side door. The next window looked into the living room, which was furnished but likewise empty of people. A small personal computer and a steaming teacup sat on the low table, surrounded by neatly piled papers. Suzaku squinted to try to read the English text on the screen and the uppermost sheets - what if the defector was keeping secrets back from his father or passing information to his Snake friends? - but couldn't make out anything interesting.

The door to the corridor slid open abruptly, and he suddenly found himself face to face with the Snake. In the movies, Draka were usually blond, muscular supermen with cruel, expressionless faces or equally blonde, athletic women who were suspiciously affectionate with each other (and a lot more affectionate with the hero by the end, usually). The young man framed in the doorway was slim and lightly built, with black hair feathering in front of his unusual dark purple eyes. His expression changed from aristocratic stillness to cold fury as his gaze met Suzaku's, and he disappeared back into the corridor. Belatedly realizing he had been caught, Suzaku turned away, but the side door opened before he could make a run for it and a hand grabbed his shoulder.

"You must be the Prime Minister's son. Do you normally sneak around spying on his guests?"

Suzaku reflexively lashed out to defend himself, grabbing and twisting his wrist the way Tohdoh-sensei had taught him years ago. The taller man gave a surprised grunt, but fought back - he was stronger than he looked, and managed to break the hold on his arm before he could be hauled off-balance. He attempted to return the favour with vaguely familiar moves which Suzaku avoided - the Draka was pretty fast, but he was faster.

"Keep your filthy hands off me, you damn...dirty Snake!" He danced back a couple of steps to set up a high spinning kick, the better to overcome his reach disadvantage. The manoeuvre was still tough for him to combine with a really high leap, so he aimed for the midsection rather than anywhere higher. The Draka tried to evade, his eyes a little wider, but the kick still caught him a glancing blow on the hip. He staggered, and Suzaku made a perfect landing and followed up with a hard kiai-accompanied strike to the sternum that knocked the man sprawling.

"I thought Snakes were supposed to be good at fighting," Suzaku sneered as Lelouch climbed swiftly to his feet. He wasn't sure whether to feel proud of himself, or contemptuous of his opponent, or both. If all the Draka were such pushovers, then Japan could protect itself from them easily. "I guess you only managed to conquer half the world by stabbing people in the back."

"Like your country has ever behaved any better," the Draka spat back. "Now can we stop this tiresome alpha-male posturing? I really have better things to do with my time than brawl with teenagers."

"Only if you admit I beat you," Suzaku said smugly.

Before the Snake could answer, there was a shout of "Stop it!" and a small figure darted between them. Suzaku glanced down and saw, with some surprise, a girl of maybe five or six with her hair in twin pale golden-brown tails looking up at him with big, teary violet eyes.

"Don't hurt my daddy!" The girl spoke English with an accent a bit like Lelouch's, but even harder to understand. "He hasn't done anything wrong; please, leave him alone..." Her lower lip trembled as she tried to stand protectively in front of her...father? and cling to his leg at the same time. She looked so woebegone but determined that Suzaku instantly felt like a cowardly bully, despite the fact that the Draka had jumped him (admittedly, he had been spying on him).

"It's all right, Nunnally." Lelouch dropped to one knee beside the girl and put his hands on her shoulders, his tone instantly soft and reassuring. "It was a misunderstanding. Come on, you should still be resting." He glared up at Suzaku.

"I'm sorry," he said uncomfortably, raising his hands.

Nunnally nodded. "Good. My father isn't like _them_, really." Lelouch shushed her gently and led her back inside. Suzaku lingered curiously in the doorway. He should probably leave, he knew, but if he was already in trouble, it couldn't get any worse.

"Is she really your daughter?" he asked when Lelouch returned. If he was her father, he must have been only about the same age as Suzaku himself when she was born. Then again, the Draka were well-known for being degenerate perverts, so perhaps it wasn't that surprising.

"Yes. Shocked?" Lelouch rolled his eyes when he declined to answer.

"I didn't think Draka children were like that," he said at length. From what he knew of the Domination, he had assumed that Draka were cold-eyed monsters pretty much from when they were born, taught to fight and crush the weak as soon as they could walk. (Of course, he himself had been taught to fight almost from when he could walk, but that was different.)

"She's not a Draka." Lelouch's denial was flat but emphatic. "Her mother was a serf, so she was born a serf."

"So you raped a slave and got her pregnant? Lovely."

"I didn't take her by force, if that's what you mean. She was my concubine-" Suzaku wasn't sure what that English word meant, but kept that to himself "-given to me when I turned thirteen. She was happy when she found out she was having a baby; begged me to let her keep it, in fact. I didn't think much of it, but when Nunnally was born..." Lelouch looked away. "I don't expect you to understand; you're still a child yourself."

It was true; Suzaku didn't really understand. He hadn't expected a Draka to really care about a child, much less admit to it, even less a child who they had fathered on a serf. "Did you...come here so she would be free, then?" he asked.

"Something like that. She was born with a heart condition that made her sickly and tired all the time. I tried to protect her and look after her as best I could, but..." Angry lines appeared in Lelouch's face. "While I was away on my military service, she got worse, and my father decided she should be put down. And yes, that's the phrase he used: put down, like a dog."

Suzaku's mouth went dry. "That's...that's horrible!" The word was painfully inadequate, he knew.

"Yes, the Domination is 'horrible', and the sky is blue, water is wet and pain hurts. Any other blinding insights?"

/**/

_17th July 1975_

Lelouch looked up from his newspaper as Nunnally shrieked with laughter from the meadow below the house. Suzaku had caught her up under the arms and was swinging her round and round in circles.

"Careful!" he called, but only half-heartedly. Suzaku seemed to dote on Nunnally, perhaps because he had never had any siblings or, as far as Lelouch could tell, any real friends. A Draka boy his age would have spent much of his life in the _agoge _system where socializing was frankly hard to avoid, not locked away with private tutors, no matter who his father was. Of course, a Draka boy his age would probably be more interested in chasing serf wenches than in spending time with a lonely little girl who was finally able to enjoy fresh air and run around without endangering herself.

"Suzaku-sama!" At the servant's shout, Suzaku gently set Nunnally down and solemnly promised her that he would be back tomorrow, ruffling her hair and making her giggle, before hurrying off to his evening martial arts lesson. Lelouch had observed his training with Lieutenant Colonel Tohdoh a few times and been impressed despite himself. The empty-hand disciplines taught in Draka schools had influences from Okinawan karate, but the style those two used was something else entirely; he doubted many Japanese people or even a majority of Draka could achieve the kind of speed and acrobatic ability required.

Nunnally came pounding up the slope to the bench where Lelouch sat, with spots of colour showing in her cheeks but not wheezing or gasping for breath as she would have been a few months ago. The surgery to correct her heart defect had worked perfectly, as far as he could tell - she was growing stronger every day as the after-effects of the operation wore off and good food and exercise did their work. The new patch of skin on her neck where her serf-tattoo had been removed had healed well too; soon there would be no sign it had ever been there.

"Are you feeling all right? Not tired at all?" he asked as she sat down next to him.

"No. I feel like I could run all day!"

"Good." Lelouch put his arm around her, and she leaned into his side.

"Daddy...when I grow up, can I marry Suzaku?"

Lelouch stared down at her. "What? Why?"

She bit her lip. "I really like him. He's been nicer to me than anyone except you or Miss Euphemia. Can I? Please?"

"Ah...it's a little early to be thinking about that. But when you _are_ grown up, you can marry whoever you want, including Suzaku, if you still want to, and if _he_ wants to. You're a free person now, remember?"

"But would you mind if I did? I wouldn't marry someone you didn't like."

"Well, I'd have to make sure he or anyone else really deserved you. Maybe put them through some dangerous ordeals." He grimaced exaggeratedly, and Nunnally laughed.

"Scary!"

"But no, I probably wouldn't. Don't say anything to him about this for now, though," he warned - no sense in frightening the poor boy, and Nunnally would most likely forget about the idea soon enough, at her age. "You wouldn't want to spoil the surprise."

Nunnally nodded. "I'll wait till I'm big and strong, and smart, and pretty, and then I'll ask him."

/**/

_11th September 1975_

In the distance, Tokyo was burning. Japan's overlapping shield of Neutron Jammers might have spared it nuclear bombardment, but with its woefully small air force swept from the skies, its capital had been firebombed by wave upon wave of Domination aircraft. Helicopters were silhouetted against the flames, doubtless landing more Draka shock troops on the Kanto Plain.

Lelouch carried Nunnally, who had mercifully fallen asleep sometime during the last hour of the journey, the last few steps up the ridge overlooking the holocaust. He put his hand on Suzaku's shoulder as the Japanese boy stood staring in horror at the spectacle below; he flinched and looked up, then relaxed when he recognized him.

"Suzaku...I swear, I'll see the Domination destroyed for this!"

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Timeline**

**Notes: **This is a hybrid Code Geass/Draka timeline where the Domination takes on the role of Code Geass' Holy Empire of Britannia. The first part of the timeline is more or less the same as the canon Draka one, with a few changes discussing Sakuradite-based technology (which is used here to help explain why the Japanese were so spawnily successful). The alterations are highlighted with italics. After World War 2/the Eurasian War, things diverge more, with the crazy-advanced space development and biotech from Draka canon being curtailed (to leave the technology level equal to that of Code Geass, with the addition of Gundam Seed's Neutron Jammers), Japan effectively taking on India's Draka-timeline role of trying to go it alone and getting conquered, and the altered backstories of several of the Code Geass main characters being mentioned.

**1927** _Properties of refined Sakuradite discovered. Large deposits present in Japanese home islands (70% of total world reserves), Draka-controlled western China, Scandinavia, and northern U.S., with smaller deposits (totalling 1% of world reserves) in other locations._

**1929** _J__apan tests first Sakuradite-based explosives and fuel cells._ Wall Street Crash.

**1932** Hitler elected with majority in Germany. F.D. Roosevelt elected President in U.S.; declares "New Deal" for lower classes, Hispanics, etc.

**1936-37** Civil war in Spain; defeat of Nationalists by 1937. Soviet Republic of Spain established. Germany takes Austria. French and British abandon Czechoslovakia; Sudeten War follows. Clashes on Draka-Japanese and Draka-Soviet borders_; modern J__apanese artillery proves highly effective against Domination vehicles and fortifications_. Experiments with electrodetection (radar) in several countries. Domination begins long-term project to harness nuclear energy. Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi move to U.S.

**1939** France and Britain guarantee Poland. Eurasian War begins. Nazi-Japanese alliance.

**1940** Fall of France. Battle of Britain ends in stalemate; Nazi submarines effectively close Atlantic. Japanese aggression in Southeast Asia produces severe tension with U.S., Australasian Federation. _J__apan tests naval railguns and long-range aircraft engines._

**1941** Domination attacks Italy with tacit consent of Germany. Germany attacks and defeats Soviet Union. Moscow falls October 1; Germans reach Urals and Caucasus by first snow. Imperial Japan occupies eastern Siberia, attacks U.S. on December 3rd. _Entire American Pacific Fleet destroyed in Pearl Harbor by S__akuradite bombs dropped by long-range bombers__. West Coast cities bomb__arded by railgun-equipped battleships_, landings made in Panama. U.S. declares war on Japan and Germany.

**1942** Hawaii and Philippines overrun by Japanese; widespread atrocities. Draka assault and destroy German armies in southern USSR before opening second front in Balkans; Germans withdraw to Poland. Hitler secretly poisoned; coalition government takes power and gains support from north-western European nations against the Draka. Domination secretly threatens to ally with Japan if Western powers make a separate peace with new German regime. India declares independence and neutrality.

**1943** Japanese pushed back from continental U.S. following defeat in Battle of the Sea of Cortez (heavily influenced by U.S. jet fighters and glide bombs). U.S., U.K., South American nations and Australasia form "Alliance For Democracy". German counteroffensive cut off and destroyed in Rumania. Draka overrun Eastern Europe; Berlin encircled. _Both sides now using Sakuradite-based weaponry and engines._ "Pan-European" emergency government formed in Brussels, joined by Soviet Spain. Nazi concentration camps in East are liberated by Draka, who use their propaganda value to keep U.S. hostile to Europeans. Alliance reconquers Hawaii, New Guinea, advances in eastern Indonesia. Japanese begin to strip forces on Asian mainland to meet Alliance threat. U.S. submarines sink more than 40% of Japanese cargo tonnage, begin economic strangulation of Japanese heartland.

**1944** First nuclear tests by U.S. and Draka. Draka jet bombers deliver five-weapon nuclear strike against Ruhr valley, Brussels, allowing ground offensive to reach and cross the Rhine. Last resistance in Berlin eliminated. Two nuclear cruise missiles fired from Alliance submarines destroy half of main Japanese fleet in lagoon of Truk island, central Pacific. Indonesia and South-East Asia liberated. Paris falls. Mass exodus of refugees from Draka-occupied Europe to UK. Tokyo destroyed by nuclear strike; Imperial family and most high government officials killed. New government of fanatical younger officers takes power, vows revenge.

**1945** Sweden surrenders, Norway, Netherlands occupied by Draka; Finland and Switzerland isolated for future attention. Pyrenees forced by massive nuclear attack; Spain overrun. Massive shift of Draka forces to Far East begins by rail and airship. Alliance forces occupy Taiwan and Hainan; widespread revolt in Japanese-occupied China._ Invasion of Kyushu thwarted by fanatical Japanese resistance, including suicide weapons using Sakuradite explosives. _Osaka destroyed by Alliance fission bomb. Draka launch Far Eastern Offensive, overrunning all of China and Korea. Archon Palme declares annexation of all territories occupied during the course of the war; all of continental Eurasia is "under the yoke" save for India and South-East Asia. _Japanese civilian government surrenders unconditionally to Alliance when faced with the prospect of a Draka invasion and further nuclear bombardment; numerous military units refuse to honour surrender and fight to the death. _Eurasian War ends.

**1946-1950s** Guerilla and terrorist warfare in newly occupied portions of Domination. Deportations, executions, etc. All schools in Europe closed, printed material confiscated. Death penalty for unauthorized education, possession of radio receiver. Partial demobilization of Draka armed forces; conversion to airmobile light infantry units widespread, Janissaries kept at strength and new units recruited from Europe, Asia. Plantations set up in more secure zones of new territories, compound factory system extended. Massive economic reconstruction, "megaprojects": damming of Mediterranean Sea at Gibraltar, redirection of Arctic rivers to Central Asia, etc. Alliance explodes first fusion bomb in 1947; first Draka fusion bomb test in 1949. Reconstruction in Japan, self-government and membership of Alliance by 1952.

**1953** Lelouch von Shrakenburg born at Oakenwald Plantation; son of Senator Karl von Shrakenburg and his second wife Marianne. Senator von Shrakenburg's children from his first marriage are Schneizel (b. 1939), Cornelia (b. 1946) and Clovis (b. 1948).

**1961** Suzaku Kururugi born.

**1967** Euphemia Guilford born; daughter of Gilbert and Cornelia (_nee_ von Shrakenburg) Guilford.

**1968** Milly Ashford, Nina Einstein, Shirley Fenette and Alice Larssen born. Nunnally L14M387 born to Lelouch von Shrakenburg's concubine Ilse, who dies in childbirth. Kallen Kozuki born; daughter of Miyuki Kozuki, a secretary at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo, and Michael Stadtfeld, an American diplomat.

**1972** Genbu Kururugi elected Prime Minister of Japan on nationalist platform, supported by militarist anti-Western factions in favour of historical revisionism.

**1973** Japanese scientists experimenting with sakuradite-based radiation weaponry develop the Neutron Jammer, which inhibits nuclear fission and thereby prevents all presently available nuclear weapons from detonating, as well as disrupting conventional radar. Kururugi administration begins preparations to withdraw from the Alliance for Democracy to exploit Japan's sakuradite reserves for maximum gain.

**1975** With his mother's assistance, Lelouch von Shrakenburg and his daughter flee the Domination to Japan shortly before the country declares its withdrawal from the Alliance. The Domination invades Japan using conventional forces, including the recently developed Knightmare Frames. Resistance collapses after Prime Minister Kururugi dies (supposedly by suicide but in fact assassinated by his son); surviving government members surrender. Unable to escape the newly conquered territory, Lelouch and Nunnally von Shrakenburg are forced to resume previously discarded cover identities under the name Lamperouge. Michael Stadtfeld leaves Japan under diplomatic passport without making provision for his mistress Miyuki or his illegitimate son and daughter, Naoto and Kallen.

**1977** Nippon Province declared open for settlement. Ashford Academy opened; Nunnally Lamperouge/von Shrakenburg befriends Milly Ashford and Nina Einstein. Marianne von Shrakenburg dies in a rigged duel when her weapon misfires; the culprit is never found. Karl von Shrakenburg elected Archon of the Domination of the Draka.

**1978** Alice Larssen's parents and younger sister are killed in a minor serf revolt in Helvetia Province; Alice moves to Nippon Province to live with her aunt and befriends Nunnally Lamperouge.

**1981** Shirley Fenette's family moves to Nippon Province.

**1985** Shinjuku Incident.

**Notes on character ages:** In 1985, when the next chapter begins, Lelouch is 31, Suzaku is 24, Cornelia is 39, Euphemia is 17 going on 18, Clovis is 37, and Schneizel is 46 (Charles/Karl is in his late 60s/early 70s). Kallen, Nunnally, Milly, Shirley, Nina and Alice are all either 17 or about to turn 17.


End file.
